We talked about passion flowers yesterday, so today let’s look at passion fruit — specifically, the Hawaiian word for passion fruit, liliko’i. Why? Because Lilikoi started popping up in the SSA’s baby name data in 2006, and it’s been in the data consistently over the last few years:
- 2018: 5 baby girls named Lilikoi
- 2017: 9 baby girls named Lilikoi
- 2016: 8 baby girls named Lilikoi
- 2015: 5 baby girls named Lilikoi
- 2014: unlisted
As it happens, the fruit isn’t native to Hawaii. The purple variety of passion fruit, originally from South America, came to Hawaii via Australia in 1880. The seeds were planted on Maui at a place called Liliko’i, and the fruit itself eventually became known by that name. The yellow variety — which is the most common type in Hawaii these days — didn’t arrive until 1923.
I tried to track down the etymology of the place name Liliko’i, but didn’t have any luck.
What do you think of the baby name Lilikoi? Do you like it more or less than the name Lehua?
Source: Liliko’i – Wehewehe Wikiwiki, Hawaii’s favorite flavor – Lilikoi
P.S. Did you know that Lilikoi can be typed entirely with the right hand on a standard Qwerty keyboard? Here are some other one-handed baby names…